"I'm Fine" – The Fragile Thread

Sometimes, when someone says “I’m fine” but their whole body tells a different story, it can be easy to feel frustrated, especially when we’ve done our own work to feel deeply and honestly.

But often, that phrase is a fragile thread holding a person together. It’s not that they’re lying—it’s that they’re doing the only thing they know to survive in that moment. Admitting the truth might unravel too much, too fast.

There’s no rush in the unfolding. Healing and truth don’t need to be forced. Everything comes in its own time, when there’s enough safety and softness to hold it.

Even denial is part of love’s patient grace.

A poem on loving someone where they are

If you see them lost

behind a smile too tight,

don’t pry it open.

Don’t demand the truth

before they’re ready.

Sit beside them

in the silence.

Offer warmth

not questions.

Let your presence

be a quiet room

where nothing has to be said

to be felt.

You don’t have to fix them.

You don’t have to save them.

Just love them

where they are.